joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "U.S. Attorney General" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <u.s.deptofj@globomail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 May 2012 19:45:04 -0400
Subject: Re: Kindly contact the stated above person immediately and he will get back to you

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Attention: Esteemed Bearer
      I Eric Holder, the attorney general of the United states of America
with the entire members of the congress , Under the auspices of the Good Citizens of this Country in  adoption with a  resolution signed by   United Nations  Member States at a High-level Political Conference aimed to prosecute, freeze and overseeing the auctioning of the assets of organized crime members found guilty, using the proceeds for compensation, settlement of unpaid debts and fraud victims  of affected United Nation member states.
This is to bring to your notice that a specify amount of  $2,500,000 USD (TWO Million and five Hundred Thousand
Dollars) each was approved as a Compensation payment to each for release to  the listed  390  victims in accordance with
the U.N. recommendations. You are among the listed and approved person(s)  for this payment as one of
the scammed victims to be paid this  Compensation amount, get back to us as soon as
possible for the immediate payments of your $2,500,000 USD
entitlement/Damages funds.
You are being contacted by this office today because your Case File (A21)  with the allocation # 450839402 and Release Code # AC-0934 is the next in line for Settlement. From intelligence documents made available to us, we discovered that you are a victim of fraud/funds delay on settlement of unpaid debts.
This Memorandum is to notify you that you will be settled from  the  initial Deposit Account with the Broadway Bank once you have contacted them as the approved paying Bank  .
The payments are to be made through  Broadway  Bank Online Banking System
issued to the beneficiary's name or company's name only.
To clear your doubts, we have have contacted Mr . Ralph Tapscott the
Operational Manager Broadway  Bank. You are advised to
contact the  Broadway  Bank with the below details:
Contact Person: Ralph Tapscott
Online Banking Department. Broadway Bank San Antonio, TX 78217
E-mail Address:   inquiry@broadwaysbank.com
Tel: 1 2109780699
Kindly contact the stated above person immediately and he will get back to you
with requirements to get this approved Compensation Fund released to you .
Faithfully Yours
U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder

Anti-fraud resources: